


Late Nights

by tiredRobin



Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Brotherly Bonding, Cuddling, Disaster Twins, Gen, Insomnia, Late Nights, NO SHIPS THEYRE BROS dont be gross thank u
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:07:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26778607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tiredRobin/pseuds/tiredRobin
Summary: Leonardo and Donatello can’t sleep, which isn’t particularly uncommon for either of them (even if Leo tends to have it worse.) They share a quiet moment.
Relationships: Donatello & Leonardo (TMNT)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 100





	Late Nights

**Author's Note:**

> hi hello im robin i write a lot and post almost none of it, but heres one cuz i love em. enjoy. yell if u see any mistakes

“Shouldn’t you be asleep?”

“Oh, hardy-har,” Donnie says, deadpan. “That’s rich, coming from you.”

Leo scrunches his face up hard enough that it’d have Donnie fighting back a smile, were he to look up. Donnie does not look up, however. Waste of a good expression. “So _rry_ for concerning myself with my dear baby brother’s physical health!”

Donnie does lift his face at that. The glow of his tablet frames him from below, the light accentuating the heavy bags and glinting almost eerily off his eyes. The creepy effect is ruined immediately by an overdramatic sigh—most certainly by design, Leo’s sure. Donnie wouldn’t be Donnie without deflection. 

Rather than give any verbal response, Donnie slumps his way into the television room, pausing by the couch. Leo does not move. Donnie waits expectantly, and Leo continues to not move, and they are at a standstill for what Leo is sure must be a solid twenty seconds. 

“Leo,” Donnie mutters flatly.

“‘Tello?” Leo asks, feigning innocence.

“Move your legs or I will remotely hack into your phone and change all your ringtones permanently to one of the songs on my favorite playlist.” 

Leo knows from experience that this is not an idle threat. “Okay, okay, jeez,” he acquiesces quickly, pulling his legs up to his chest so that Donnie has room to settle down beside him. As soon as Donnie is comfortable, though, Leo stretches his legs back out, resting his feet on Donnie’s thighs. 

It’s a testament to Donnie’s exhaustion when all he does is mutter, “Get off of me,” and smack one of Leo’s feet lightly. Leo’s dramatic, “Ow!” goes unacknowledged, but so does his refusal to move, so he supposes that he can’t complain too much. 

The silence that settles between them is comfortable, if weighed down by some unspoken... _thing._ Leo’s not sure what that whole business is about. He isn’t too worried about it, either; if it’s important, it’ll come up. He’s happy with the company all the same. He slumps his head against the armrest and stares at the dark ceiling, trying and failing to count the specks that are most definitely a trick his eyes are playing on him. 

After an indeterminate amount of time, Donnie looks up from his tablet. Leo’s gaze is drawn by the motion, and he’s mildly bewildered to find Donnie squinting strangely at him. 

“Uh,” Leo says when nothing happens for several moments. “Somethin’ on my face?”

“Have you just been staring at the ceiling all night?” Donnie asks incredulously.

Leo blinks. “No?”

“Then what have you been doing?”

“Er.” Leo gives himself a moment to think about it. What _has_ he been doing? “Well, I was on my phone for a bit, until it died. Then I rearranged my figures? And only _then _did I come in here to stare at the ceiling.”__

__Donnie keeps staring._ _

__“What?” Leo asks. He’s starting to feel _scrutinized,_ and that’s never a good thing to be when it comes to Donatello. His twin is emotionally inept in almost every situation imaginable—except for in situations that of which involve Leo at three-or-four-or-something in the morning._ _

__Donnie shakes his head after another good moment of staring. “Sometimes I have to question how you live,” he says._ _

__“Wonderfully and with passion,” Leo replies immediately._ _

__“Uh-huh.”_ _

__“Look, man, a turtle can only do so much before he’s exhausted— _haha_ —every option in the book. What do you expect me to do? _Clean?”__ _

__“That would be delightful, actually, could you do that? Thanks.”_ _

__Leo chuckles. “Sure. When I’m dead.”_ _

__“Given your sleeping schedule—or lack thereof—that shouldn’t take too long.”_ _

__Leo actually laughs at that, and he can make out the pleased little grin on Donnie’s face. “We’ll have a spotless sewer in no time.”_ _

__“I eagerly await your demise,” Donnie says, and it comes out idle and bored rather than enthused. His attention has drifted back to his tablet. Leo doesn’t mind._ _

__They don’t say much else after that. Donnie doesn’t admit to a nightmare that led to a panic attack upon waking. Leo doesn’t bring up how, whenever he finally nears the threshold of sleep, he goes back to the roof, back to plummeting. Donnie eventually finishes up with... whatever he’d been doing, and then he turns the tablet screen towards Leo, and they watch videos about cats and about making knives out of ridiculous things._ _

__And, as the clock climbs towards seven, and after Donnie had drifted off midway through a compilation of old pet vines, Leo slips off to sleep beside him._ _

**Author's Note:**

> question: isnt leo usually the eldest bro???? so it makes sense that hed be second oldest in rise. why is donnie always seen as the second oldest? is it his vibes? frankly to me, the authority of middle children (as decreed by me, a middle child), he is so distinctly the younger of the two. but also i can see where people are coming from. BUT ALSO I CANT. leo has ... older brother vibes................ can u not tell that this PLAGUES me??
> 
> edit: Several People have said tht donnies canonically Older so im just gonna (deletes that) bam. i do what i want.
> 
> anyways leave a comment if u have the time and energy to do so! thanks thanks blows a kiss


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